DC8 acting weird.

If I program anything into mine all the problems come back. Then I will unplug everything and it works fine. ??????
 
im having the same problem now. it works fine until i program it, then it goes nuts. or even if i dont touch it it turns off either my MH or fuge pump. wherever i plug them, its always those two... every now and then it does the skimmer.

i might be going to a reefkeeper if this keeps happening even after i update the firmware.....
 
Its crazy. You spend all of this money on this equipment and it does not hold up to what the manufactures claim. I got mine for Christmas so I am stuck. I would like for it to work but it not looking good. I am going to reset everything and make sure there is no bogus or duplicate commands. I will post any changes. Keep me updated.
 
for what it costs, id expect it to make coffee for me in the AM too. look at all these threads about how there are problems, compared to that on digital aquatics' forum
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11506047#post11506047 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mr pink floyd
for what it costs, id expect it to make coffee for me in the AM too. look at all these threads about how there are problems, compared to that on digital aquatics' forum

I thought the same thing. I don't know why I went w/ this one. Oh well. I do like it,don't get me wrong. It is just frustrating that it is acting up.
 
I am corresponding w/ a REP now. He is helping me out. I will let you know what we have come up with.
 
Just tagging along. Hope you don't mind. I have been considering an aquacontroller III but maybe I should look for something else.
 
I think we figured out that I was getting some stray voltage from the PH probe wire. I had all my wires, wire tied together. The Rep told me to look in the controller for certain data. I was to look for a SY number. Not sure what it is. Once I found that number it was supposed to be holding steady around around 63. When I found the number it was fluctuating around 75. He then told me to start moving the telephone wire that sends a signal to the DC8 until the number drops to 63-65. I started pulling the telephone wire away from the others and when I moved the PH probe wire it dropped to 64 and was holding steady. Then I put the two wires back together and viola it shot back up. So I have them separated and I haven't had any issues w/ the controller for a day or two. I can't call success yet, but I will keep you guys informed.
Here is how to get to the SY number.
On the controller go to the second screen of self test. Press the up button twice then down button twice, and then the select button. You should be in the manual cal menu. Scroll to cntl stat press the select. You should see like 4 groups of numbers. The first group should be the SY #'s. It should be holding around 63.
THe rep said that this is an uncommon situation, so please talk to him before you try anything after looking at this number. This is what worked (so far) for me. I am in no way saying this is the problem of other controllers. Please email Curt at Neptune Sys. and he will guide you. He was quick w/ his responses. If you are reading this Curt, Thanks.
 
by upgrading my firmware, it will give me the ability to do this part of the self test. right now, doing up,up, down, down and select doesnt give me certain data, like the SY number.

once i get the wire ill call in, get firmware updated, and try things. estimated arrival date is the 10th for the wire
 
Similar Issue?

Similar Issue?

I've had mine for 1 year and 1 week. Everything working great until Output 4 decides to stop working. It won't turn on. I can change it in AquaNotes or in the controller itself but it doesn't do a thing. The other outputs work just fine.
 
Thanks, well it was Curt that helped me out. He was pretty quick to respond and patience. I really like my controller also.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11547422#post11547422 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by madadi
nice find lilchrist. glad it worked out. i dunno what id do without my aquacontroller!
 
so my SY number is 63-64.....


ill plug everythign in tonight and see if i still get random events(hopefully not)

im hoping that the old firmware was just bad?

wish me luck
 
mh turned on in the middle of the night, i reset the controller, it went off, then the actinics came on and i did the same thing

this morning the Mh kicked on for a minute or two then went back off.

all the symbols are as they should be when these things happen.


any ideas?
 
Do you have all of your cables wire tied or bundled together? If so, I would separate the power cable and the cable connecting the DC 8. Also make sure your PH cable is not near the cable for the DC 8.

Another thing that I did was, I went through all of my programmed states and made sure there was no eronious statements or made sure there was no double statements that will conflict. I pretty much deleted all the states and started over.
 
Re: Similar Issue?

Re: Similar Issue?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11546066#post11546066 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cbarria
I've had mine for 1 year and 1 week. Everything working great until Output 4 decides to stop working. It won't turn on. I can change it in AquaNotes or in the controller itself but it doesn't do a thing. The other outputs work just fine.

Man, I'm having the same problem. I just got this unit and got all the bells and whistles, but it can't keep my #$% MH on for more than 30 minutes! It first started by taking down my complete light rack (3MH and Actinics). I thought it was a short so I completely rebuilt it - NOTHING was loose. That was a lost day. So I wired everything one by one and just plugged them into HD strips - not a problem. I then plugged everything into the DC8 and at first everything worked. After about 30 minutes or so two of my MH went down. It came back on only to lose another one. Now it's only happening to one. To test my MH I plugged it directly into a socket - not a problem at all and it stayed up all day. I plugged it back into the DC8 - A1 and after about 10 minutes down it went and never came up all day! Yesterday I plugged it into A5 - same thing, stayed up for a few minutes and then down it went. I moved all my cables (PH, ORP, temp) so they aren't touching each other - still the same problem.

After paying this much $ I am not happy at all - and it's only been up for one week!
 
Last edited:
Back
Top